Blindness
by Nalanzu
Summary: Deathfic: This goes out to all those who wanted to see a Zord go up against a Gundam.


**1999, A.C.E., Earth's moon:**

Andros wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead. The last screw tightened into place, and with practiced ease, the former Red Ranger dropped to the ground to admire the culmination of this effort. The Delta Megazord. The pieces had been nearly unsalvageable, but with resources from both KO-35 and Earth, he had been able to restore it to its former operational capabilities. The Mega Voyager stood behind the Delta Megazord, also in perfect working condition. The structural work had been the most difficult, and it had only been by dint of his status on both worlds as the Red Ranger that he had been able to get the work completed at all. Even Zhane had thought he was crazy. Zhane. Andros' chest tightened, and his eyelids stung. His last conversation with the Silver Ranger had been just two weeks ago. 

_"Andros, the threat is over! Dark Specter is dead! Astronema is Karone! There's no need to hang on to the past like this." Zhane's outburst had been sparked by his frustration with Andros' inability to explain just why he wanted the two Megazords rebuilt. _

_"Of all people, I'd think you'd want to help," Andros had returned. "You used to take this seriously." It was an old argument. _

_"Take what seriously? Andros, let it go! There's no more need to fight. Not like this, at least. Leave the dead to lie in peace." Prophetic words, if only he'd known it. _

_"It was never more than a game to you, was it?" Andros had said spitefully, his own frustration getting the better of him. "And now you've found new toys to play with." He had been referring to Zhane's recent involvement with a government-sponsored anti-terrorist unit; Zhane was intimately familiar with guerrilla battle tactics, and invaluable to the unit as a whole. "You don't want to play at being a Ranger any more." _

_Zhane had flushed, then paled. His jaw had knotted visibly, and when he spoke, it was in a low, dangerous voice. "Out of respect for you as a Ranger, and as a friend, I'm not going to answer that. But next time, nothing is going to hold me back."_

He'd left then, the Silver Morpher strapped to his wrist, and Andros could only stare. He'd wanted to call him back, to explain that he didn't know why he had to rebuild the Zords, only that it needed to be done. But pride and the drive to complete the Zords had prevented it. It had been only two days later that Ashley had left a message, in a stumbling, broken voice, saying that Zhane had taken a bullet while trying to stop a major bombing incident. Thanks to his actions, he had been the only casualty. 

Andros touched the Silver Morpher in his jacket pocket. It didn't seem real; he kept expecting to see Zhane's cocky grin every time the door opened, or hear his voice when the communicators sounded. Of course, none of them were in possession of their communicators or morphers any more. Directly following Zhane's death, the tem (already suffering due to the pressures of normal life and the compounding problem of Andros' obsession with rebuilding the Zords) fell apart completely. The decision was made to donate the Astro Megaship to the GSA Colony project as a relic. The morphers were stored in a vault, protected by a heavy plassteel door and extreme temperature. Except the Silver Morpher. Andros touched it again, absently. Only two people knew the activation code, and one was dead. 

The two completed Megazords stood as silent watchers over the cold moon base, and over the solitary human figure at their feet. 

**A.C. 195, Earth:**

Dorothy Catalonia clapped her hands excitedly as the small Portal closed. "Are you sure that was real?" she demanded. 

The man in front of her bowed. "Of course, Dorothy-san. That was an image from the late twentieth century of Earth. Those are two of the machines that will destroy the Gundams." 

"They look so…inelegant. They have the power?" Dorothy flipped her hair over her shoulder. 

"They do." The man nodded vigorously. "They are much larger, and their source of power is mystical in nature." 

"And how do we get them to the Gundams?" Dorothy asked silkily. 

"We don't." The nondescript man began the layings of a plan that had Dorothy smiling. She would get to see the Gundams battle after all. To the death. 

"You want what?" Duke Dermail stared at his granddaughter in surprise and consternation. 

"I need Space Fortress Barge, Grand-daddy," Dorothy replied. "You wanted the Gundams gone, right? I can get rid of them. And then the Sank Kingdom will be without protection." 

"Space Fortress Barge?" Duke Dermail repeated. "You want it completely emptied?" 

Dorothy nodded. 

Duke Dermail sighed heavily. "If that's what you want. It had better be worth it." 

"Oh, it will be." Dorothy smiled. The expression was not pretty. "It will be." 

Dorothy presented the package to the man who claimed he could eliminate the Gundam threat. Inside the package were five small pieces, one from each Gundam: Wing, Deathscythe Hell, Heavyarms, Sandrock, and Altron. "It wasn't easy getting these," she said, glaring. 

"They're necessary. For my beautiful machine to work, a component of each Gundam is necessary. A type of homing system, if you will. Yes, yes. It will pull all five Gundams, their pilots, and Space Fortress Barge back to Earth. In the late twentieth century." 

"What if the pilots aren't in their Gundams?" 

"The Gundams know their pilots. They won't be left behind." The man fiddled with something underneath the main console. "It's ready now." 

"Wonderful!" Dorothy pushed the Gundam pieces towards the man. "Get started, then." 

"As you wish." 

Afterward, Dorothy couldn't remember the transition between one time and the next. She was, however, intimately familiar with each nuance of the program the nondescript little man had installed in Space Fortress Barge. Once she was certain of that, she shot him and threw the body out of the airlock. Having someone else possess this knowledge was an unacceptable security risk. 

Dorothy set the sensors on Barge to locating gundanium alloy. Five spots showed up on the display almost immediately. She permitted herself a small smile. Let them be confused for now. It was time to implement Phase One of what she already thought of as her plan. Phase One required street clothing of this time, artistically torn and burned. She gave herself a cursory inspection in the mirror, and went to the maintenance scow she had prepared. It, too, had been artistically damaged. The moon base of these… Power Rangers… was close, and the one in red should be there. Pitting one against the other. It was such a delicious idea. A beautiful battle would result. 

The maintenance scow crash-landed on the airless surface of Earth's moon. Surely that was close enough for the Red Ranger to have heard her. Dorothy waited, pretending unconsciousness. Sure enough, a figure came rushing towards the scow and pushed its way through the airlock. 

"Are you all right?" Andros asked. The young woman was draped over a console; she'd probably been thrown there when this strange ship had crashed. An impossibly long waterfall of shining gold hair half covered her face and pooled in the dust on the floor. "Miss, are you all right?" Andros repeated, crossing over to her. 

She stirred, and her eyes opened partway. "They…they were following me. They damaged my…" 

"It's all right. I'll protect you," Andros promised. The fact that his morpher was on Earth and therefore inaccessible was irrelevant. He was still a Ranger. "Come on, I'll take you back to the base. You'll be safe there. You can tell me who they are." 

The young woman nodded hesitantly. "I…okay." 

Something about her looked so _vulnerable_. Andros held out a steadying arm. "Let's go." Inside, something fierce was exultant. Looking forward to the chance of battling for Earth once again. 

Once inside the moon base, the young woman seemed to calm down. "Tell me who you are," Andros said gently. "Tell me who's chasing you." There was always the off chance that she was lying, of course. But here, Andros had a slight edge. As a Kerovan, he was telekinetic. He was also very slightly empathic; enough to ascertain whether or not the girl in front of him was telling the truth. 

"My name is Dorothy Catalonia. The ones who are after me…" She shuddered visibly. "The suits they're piloting. They're Gundams." 

"They're what?" Andros was confused. 

Dorothy's mouth twitched ever so slightly into a frown before she smoothed out her expression. Weren't those big machines of theirs mobile suits? How far back was this time, that he had never heard of a Gundam? "Mobile suits," she tried to explain. "Very powerful ones. They're made of gundanium alloy and they're almost indestructible." 

Andros wasn't any less confused. "Mobile suits?" 

"Like the ones you have out there." Dorothy waved her hand in the general direction of the Zord hangar bay; they'd come through it upon entering the moon base. 

"Those are Zords," Andros said. "Not mobile suits. Only the Power Rangers can control the Zords." Where had this girl come from? 

"I don't know what a Zord is," Dorothy said doubtfully. "But the Gundam pilots are crazy! They came to Earth and started attacking military bases from all over the world, and they've killed people and nothing seems to stop them…" 

Andros was almost tempted to disbelieve her, but the sensors installed in the Delta Megazord were hooked into the moon base's computer mainframe, and they were registering five concentrations of an alloy unknown on Earth. If these pilots had been attacking Earth, it wasn't his Earth. But time travel was conceivable. If they had been foiled somewhere else, they might have come here to lay their foundation. "If they want to take over the world, they'll have to deal with the Power Rangers first," he said grimly. His empathic sense was tugging at him, but it had also confirmed that Dorothy was speaking the absolute truth when she spoke about the Gundam pilots. They were evil, and wherever evil existed it was the sworn duty of the Rangers to fight it. This was the reason he'd rebuilt the Zords. He had to contact the rest of the Rangers, get their morphers and the Astro Megaship back. He turned to Dorothy. "I have to go down to Earth, to get the rest of the team. Stay here and hide. I'll be back very soon." 

Dorothy nodded, keeping her eyes downcast. It was working! Her plan was working! Once Andros was gone, she made her way back to the maintenance scow. Space Fortress Barge sat hidden in the shadow of the moon, undetectable both by Earth and the sensors in Andros' moon base. It wasn't hard to reach it, even though the scow was a little more damaged than she'd planned on. Having entered Barge, she could set the second part of her plan in motion. It was time to contact the Gundam Pilots. 

"Unh…" Heero blinked and tried to focus his eyes. What the hell had just happened? He tried to stand up, but familiar restraints held him back. His vision cleared. He was in the cockpit of the Wing Gundam. With no memory of how he had gotten there. He had to figure out where he was, then. Activation of the sensors have him a second shock. He was in space, between Earth and it's moon, but the colonies were gone. Frowning, Heero flipped on his radio, to see if the airwaves could tell him what was going on. There should have been dozens of bands transmitting. Instead, there was only one. 

"This is Quatre. Can anyone hear me? Rendezvous at my coordinates. This is Quatre. Can anyone hear me? Rendezvous at…" 

Heero tuned out the repeating message and flicked a glance over the coordinates displayed at the bottom of the screen. Wing responded sluggishly at first, but picked up speed as he piloted the mobile suit towards Quatre's Sandrock. 

Duo beat him there, the Deathscythe Hell arriving scant seconds before the Wing. "If anyone can tell me what is going on," the braided pilot began. 

"We don't know any more than you do," Heero interrupted. "Unless Quatre…" 

Sandrock's pilot didn't respond. 

"Quatre?" Duo sounded concerned. In the background, Quatre's repeating message kept playing. 

"Space Fortress Barge is hiding in the shadow of the moon." It was Wufei and the Altron. "But there is no one aboard." 

"We meet there," Heero said decisively. 

"What about –" Duo's Gundam made a very human gesture toward the fourth mobile suit hanging in space. Quatre still hadn't answered. 

"I'll tow Sandrock." Trowa cut his engines, bringing Heavyarms to what would have been a screeching halt if they hadn't been in the middle of a vacuum. 

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that all five of us being here is not a good thing," Duo muttered as they all started off, following Wufei. 

"I looked for OZ's lunar base as well. It's not there. There were several structures but I didn't get close enough to see them clearly." Wufei's remark was met with silence. 

Space Fortress Barge was equally silent. There was no sign of life from the outside, and when the five Gundams entered through the mobile suit gate, signs of life remained conspicuously absent. "We have to contact the Sank Kingdom," Heero said flatly. 

"If it's still there," Quatre's voice floated over weakly from Sandrock. Trowa was half-supporting, half-carrying the blonde Arabian. "The colonies and the lunar base are gone. I think it's safe to assume that we've been transported somewhere else." 

Duo glared. "The moon is _here_. The Earth is _there_. Where else could we be?" 

"I don't have all the answers!" Quatre snapped. "I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Our top priority should be finding out where we are, and how we can get back." 

"Heero, Duo, and Wufei can get started on that," Trowa interrupted gently. "I'm going to try and figure out what's wrong with you." 

"I'm fine," Quatre protested. Four pair of skeptical eyes regarded him. "See?" He pushed himself away from Trowa, stumbled, and nearly fell. 

"Let's go." Trowa scooped up the protesting Quatre. 

"I'm all right. We don't have time for me to be injured." Quatre wriggled out of Trowa's arms. Although very pale, he kept his balance. His stare challenged them to argue. 

"Hn." Heero's laconic non-comment broke the silence. "You and Trowa go sort out the radio waves. We should be able to pick them up using Barge's equipment. The rest of us will fly recon." 

"You can't –" Quatre began argumentatively. 

"Just do it," Wufei broke in. 

Heero rounded on him. "I don't need you to back me up." 

"Yeah, and who died and made you fearless leader, Heero?" Duo asked cynically. 

"Stop it!" Quatre's voice cut through the rising anger and irritation. "We'll –" his gesture encompassed Trowa and himself "—stay here. The rest of you go find out what you can. We can figure out…where we are." 

"I can tell you that." 

"Dorothy Catalonia?" Quatre's tone was completely unbelieving. 

She nodded wearily, leaning on the doorframe. "We've all been kidnapped." 

"What do you mean, kidnapped?" Duo asked suspiciously. "Why should we trust you?" 

"Where were you?" Trowa added. "You weren't on Barge when we arrived." 

"I was running. They were –" Dorothy covered her face in her hands. "They brought us here. As a game. They –" 

"Who are they?" Heero broke in. 

"I don't know what they call themselves. They have these giant machines, and they want to kill you!" Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. 

Quatre crossed over to Dorothy and put an arm around her shoulders. She burrowed into his chest, sobbing hysterically. The blonde Arabian looked at each of the other four pilots in turn, until he was sure he had everyone's attention. Then he mouthed four words, slowly and deliberately. _I don't believe her_. There were silent signs of agreement. Quatre nodded once and looked significantly at the weeping woman in his arms. _Play along_. A resigned look crept over Duo's face, but he nodded anyway, along with the rest of them. "Dorothy, we won't let them kill us," Quatre said gently, tilting the girl's face upwards. 

"You think they can kill Gundam pilots?" Duo grinned cockily. 

"But how will we get back?" 

"We'll find a way." Quatre would have said more, but a shudder rippled through Space Fortress Barge. "What was that?" 

"Something just landed on the moon," Trowa said calmly. "It looks like a mobile suit, but it's huge. It doesn't match any OZ models." 

"Hn. Let's go meet it, then." Heero vaulted over the walkway railing, landing on the Wing. 

"Wait! We don't know who they are!" Quatre grabbed the railing with both hands. 

"We'll find out." 

"Then we all go." Wufei was already strapping himself into Altron's cockpit. 

Duo was equally efficient. "Shinigami fights everywhere," he declared happily. 

"All right." Quatre pulled himself into the cockpit of the Sandrock, grimacing. "Let's go." 

"I told you they were here," Andros muttered beneath his helmet. Tracking the other Rangers down had been easy; they were all still in Angel Grove. Convincing them that this threat existed had been somewhat more difficult. He had gotten them all together on the strength of his authority as the Red Ranger, but their cooperation was seriously lacking. They weren't quite a team, not any more. The end of the threat to Earth on behalf of Dark Specter and Asronema had been the beginnings of that. Zhane's death had been the final blow. In the end, though, Andros had succeeded. He had called on their sense of duty and responsibility, their strength as Rangers. Compared to the task of convincing them, the experience of getting the Megaship out of the museum had been easy, although not an experience Andros wanted to repeat at any time in the near future. Aside from which, he suspected that at least two of the former Rangers had agreed to this little stunt merely to shut him up. 

Whatever the reasons, they were here. The Astro Megaship, in Megazord mode, landed solidly on the Moon's surface. "Okay, Andros." Cassie sounded irritated. "Where's this girl of yours?" 

"Her ship's right over…" Andros looked in the direction of the crash, and his voice failed. There was nothing there. 

"I think he's been up here alone too long." There was a hint of real concern hidden beneath TJ's joking mannerism; he'd been the easiest to convince to come along. 

"No! She was here!" Andros pounded a console. "And I saw those readings for myself!" 

"Uh, Andros?" Ashley's voice sounded strange. 

"What?" 

"Those…Gundams. Would they be anything like those?" She pointed a white-gloved finger at the viewscreen. 

Andros' jaw dropped. The five machines approaching were like nothing he'd ever seen. They were about half the size of the Astro Megazord, but they more than made up for it with their grace and speed. Each was subtly different from the others, but a breathtaking symmetry left no doubt that they'd all been designed by the same mind. Or set of minds. It was also evident that they'd been built for one purpose and one alone. Destruction. Death radiated from them like an aura, in the surety of their maneuvers, in the quickness of their movements. With an effort, Andros found his voice again. 

"Those are the Gundams." 

"They're incredible," Carlos breathed. 

"And they're trying to destroy the Earth," Andros reminded them. "They must have done something with Dorothy. Ready the weapons." 

The Gundams, however, made no threatening movements. They simply hovered in front of the Astro Megazord, as if they were waiting for something. 

"Heero, why are we just sitting here?" Duo asked, frustrated. 

"I want to see what they're going to do," Heero returned. "Some of what Dorothy said was probably true." 

"Women." This last was a muttered remark from Wufei. 

"I'm getting a signal from the, ah…" 

"Zord," Trowa supplied helpfully. 

"Zord," Quatre finished. "It's on alpha frequency 76.2 MH." 

Amid hissing static, a voice could be heard. "…return Dorothy at once." 

"Sorry," Heero returned shortly. "Can't have her." 

"If you don't release her, we'll have to take her by force." 

"No." Heero clicked the channel off. 

"They are chasing her," Trowa observed. 

"Yes, but –" Quatre was cut off by the sudden sound of weapons fire. 

TJ wasn't watching the Gundams. He figured that with the other four Rangers staring at them, there wouldn't be any surprise moves made from that quarter. Instead, he was watching everywhere else. In case these Gundams had a hidden weapon. 

A flicker of movement caught TJ's eye. There – on the left. A small vessel was approaching, taking every precaution to remain unnoticed. TJ considered consulting Andros, but his leader was involved in an argument with the Gundams over Dorothy. And the little ship was getting closer. A moment more, and TJ made he decision. He fired on the ship. 

Andros saw the motion, too late. "TJ, stop!" The tiny ship exploded in a shower of liquid particles, cooling and congealing as they fell. A choked gasp sounded over the radio, cut off abruptly. 

"That was Dorothy's…" Andros couldn't continue. "She… she's gone…" 

Beneath his helmet, TJ paled. "I thought she was –" 

"We don't have time to argue!" Carlos grabbed the back of Andros chair. 

The Gundams were attacking. 

"I'd say this confirms their retaliatory intentions." Quatre's voice had gone completely flat and inflectionless. "They are enemies." He charged forward. 

"Quatre, wait!" The blade arm of Heavyarms was outflung, as if to hold the Sandrock back. The remaining four Gundams may have succeeded in that endeavor, but Heero was right alongside Quatre. 

"What're you doing, Heero?" Duo shouted. 

"All those have the intention of taking my life are my enemies." Heero's voice, normally flat and toneless, had taken on an eerie quality. 

"Everyone else, get to the other two Zords. I'll hold them off long enough for you to activate them," Andros said in clipped tones. 

"No, you go. I'll stay here," TJ interrupted. 

"TJ, there's no time to argue! Just go!" 

TJ bodily lifted his leader and handed him to a startled Carlos. "Andros, I'm staying here." 

Andros hesitated for a fraction of a second, and saluted TJ briefly. TJ returned the gesture. "All right, guys, come on!" 

The four Rangers had barely vacated the Megazord when one of the Gundams slammed into it. In the back of his mind, TJ noted the snake-eyed shield it carried. He barely managed to avoid sending the Megazord crashing into the ground, and it was only with DECA's help that he kept its balance at all. Not that that meant too much, because a concussive blast shattered the rock at his feet. Again, TJ kept the Megazord upright, through sheer dint of will. The blast had come from the white-winged Gundam. For some reason, the other three Gundams were holding back. Maybe he'd survive this after all. TJ fired on the closer Gundam with the lasers; he wasn't sure which one it was, and he didn't particularly care. If his life bought the others enough time to get to safety, it was worth it. Some kind of atonement for the mistake he'd made. The shot he'd fired missed, as the Gundam dove into a tight roll, using its wings to pull itself out of the line of fire. TJ drew the Astro Megazord Saber. Both Gundams apparently saw this as a challenge. They each holstered their own long range weapons and pulled out small cylinders. "What the heck…" TJ leaned closer to the viewscreen. Lashes of energy erupted out of the tips of the cylinders. 

"Fight honorably," an empty voice sounded over the radio, followed by an audible click. 

"For recognition of superiority. As one mobile suit pilot to another." This voice was as cold as the void outside. 

Both of the suits charged at once, their movements completely independent of each other. Yet neither one hindered the other, and TJ brought the Megazord Saber up to counter the first attack. It split under the blow, severed cleanly. 

Time slowed, as the other Gundam's energy weapon lanced toward the Megazord. TJ poured all his remaining power into the broken Saber, swinging it desperately across the paths of both Gundams. It grazed the outer edge of the winged Gundam's shield. Then it was past it, moving toward the other. 

Impact. 

Memory. 

_TJ saw flashes of his life as a Ranger; saving Tommy from the pit of hell, his ascension as the Red Ranger, leading the team against Divatox. He saw the destruction of the Command Center, their hopeless flight into space, and meeting Andros. The Blue Morpher, the face of Astronema, the frantic search for Zordon and their tears when they learned of his death, Zhane's carefree grin, and the Countdown to Destruction, when Earth was the last resistor to an overwhelming array of evil forces. He saw the last-ditch effort to save their planet and countless others, and the wild, unexpected, bittersweet joy of success. And there was guilt over the lives that he had failed to save, those he had failed to protect._ But not this time. The readouts on the controle consoles showed two familiar spikes of power – the Delta Megazord and the Mega Voyager. 

The Astro Megazord fell, split in two pieces, the momentum of the torso driving the shattered, unstable Saber into the side of the Sandrock, and both halved exploded in a brilliant fireball. 

The knees of the Sandrock buckled, and it, too, began to fall. Cursing, Trowa snatched up the battered mobile suit and towed it once again toward Space Fortress Barge. 

Following Trowa's example, Duo took hold of the Wing and forcibly pulled it away from the site of the battle, where the other two mobile suits – no, Zords, he corrected himself – were emerging from their base. They couldn't match the speed of the Gundams, though, burdened as they were. 

Deathscythe Hell carefully deposited its burden on the hangar floor, and Duo clambered out, racing to Wing's cockpit. He helped a dazed and shaken Heero Yuy into the repressurized atmosphere. "Will you tell me what the hell you were doing?" he shouted. 

"My enemies…" The glow in Heero's eyes faded. "The Zero system," he whispered. 

"Quatre! Quatre!" It was Trowa. 

"Oh, no," Duo whispered, and they sprinted across the hangar deck. 

Wufei and Trowa were carefully extricating Sandrock's pilot from what little remained of its cockpit. The young pilot's body was too damaged to continue the mission, whispered a cynical voice in the back of Heero's mind. He ignored it. 

Quatre opened impossibly bright eyes in a bloodstained face. "Trowa?" 

"I'm here." Trowa's voice, normally expressionless, was roughened with an edge of frantic desperation. "I've got you. You're going to be all right." 

"Trowa, does it hurt to die?" 

Surprisingly, it was Heero who answered. "No," he lied. 

"That's good." Quatre closed his eyes. 

"You can sleep it you want to," Trowa whispered. 

Quatre smiled slightly. Then, nothing. 

"Quatre? Quatre!" Trowa's voice broke, and he held the still form of the other pilot to his chest, sobbing. 

Heero stepped forward, hesitantly, and laid a hand on Trowa's shoulder. At his touch, Trowa looked up. Then something in his expression hardened. He set Quatre down, gently, and stood in one smooth motion. Without a word he climbed into the cockpit of Heavyarms. 

"Wait!" Duo took half a step towards the Gundam. "You can't go alone!" 

"I am alone." Trowa's voice was completely dead. He was out the airlock before anyone had recovered enough to move. 

"We have to stop him!" Duo moved toward his own Gundam. 

"No." 

That one word was enough to stop Duo in his tracks. "Are you nuts, Heero? We can't let him do this all by himself!" 

"Trowa Barton has made his choice. We shall battle these Rangers another way." Wufei ran his fingers over the hilt of his saber. 

"You're both insane. I'm going after him." The Deathscythe Hell vanished along the same trajectory as the Heavyarms. 

Andros watched in growing horror as the four undamaged Gundams escorted their injured comrade from the battleground. The Astro Megazord lay in pieces, their smoldering fire already quenched by the lack of oxygen on the moon. 

"TJ!" It was Cassie who reached the wreckage first, searching for any sign of the Blue Ranger. It was Cassie who found him, sprawled over a control console. "TJ!" He was already gone. Even as the other Rangers skidded to a halt in a semicircle around Cassie, the Blue Armor flickered and faded away. The morpher slipped from TJ's wrist and dropped into the lunar dust. 

"No, no, no," Ashley repeated, a litany of denial. "He can't be gone. He can't be." 

"This is all my falut." The thought crossed Andros lips in an unbidden whisper. 

"No, it isn't." Cassie spun on her heel and stalked back to the Delta Megazord. "It's theirs. And I intend to make them pay." 

Carlos caught her wrist. "Revenge isn't—" 

"Isn't what? They're a threat to the world. And I intend to neutralize it." Cassie yanked her wrist out of the Black Ranger's grasp. 

"Wait!" Carlos shouted. 

"I'll go stop her." Ashley sounded as if she were about to cry, but her movements remained steady. "You guys…" her voice faltered briefly and regained strength. "You guys take care of TJ." 

"All right." Carlos nodded once and the Yellow Ranger ran after her friend. 

"Cassie, you can't go by yourself. You saw what those machines are capable of!" Ashley yelled from outside the Delta Megazord. Cassie was already powering up the systems. 

"If we don't stop them now, we never will. They'll be disorganized after losing a teammate." 

"So are we!" 

"Ash, I have to do something. I can't just sit here and wait for them to attack again." Cassie punched a series of buttons into the console and the Megazord surged forward. Ashley jumped out of the way. 

"Dammit." Ashley cursed. Carlos and Andros needed to be told. 

Duo couldn't find Heavyarms. "This is ridiculous. How can you not see something that brightly colored?" He recalibrated the sensors and looked again. "He should stick out like – Huh? What's this?" A large object, rapidly approaching. "It's one of the Zords!" Death grinned widely. The twin beams of energy flashed out of the saber, forming Shinigami's distinctive double scythe. The Zord slammed into his Gundam. Duo shuddered under the impact, and twisted away, breaking it's grip. "I am the God of Death!" he declared, and swung his weapon at the Delta Megazord. The Megazord skimmed out of the way, aiming a ponderous fist at the Gundam. Duo laughed and dodged. He flipped on his radio. "You're going down!" He swung again. 

"You'll never destroy Earth!" a female voice shot back. "The Power Rangers will stop you!" 

"Hey, wait a second!" Duo tried to stop his scythe, but the momentum was too great. It sliced into the Delta Megazord. Cassie fired the remaining thrusters, collapsing the Megazord on top of the Deathscythe Hell. Duo was too startled to dodge. By purest chance, the beam saber ripped into the Gundam. 

"At least…" Cassie gasped. "I can stop you!" 

Duo gritted his teeth. The pressure inside the Gundam was building. Some kind of supply line was ruptured, and the valve closing it off wouldn't hold for long. When it gave, he and his Gundam would both be so much space dust. "We're not trying to destroy the Earth!" The hatch to the cockpit was probably blocked. So be it. If his Gundam went down, he'd go down with it. 

Duo paled, and realization hit him with the force of a self-detonated Gundam. "She was playing with us! We have to tell the others, before anyone else dies!" 

"Right." Cassie scrambled out of the rear hatch of the Delta Megazord. "Can you get out of there?" 

Duo pushed at the front of the cockpit. It refused to budge. And the pressure of the broken supply line was still building. He wouldn't be able to escape. A terrible clarity settled over his thoughts. "What's your name?" 

"C-Cassie," the Pink Ranger faltered. "Come on! Even I can see that thing's about to blow!" 

"Cassie, my name is Duo Maxwell. Go tell them not to fight. Tell them the truth. Tell Heero that the God of Death is finished." 

"I won't just leave you!" 

"Go! Now!" If she didn't run, she wouldn't make it before the Gundam went up, taking the Megazord with it. "You can't help me! Just don't let anyone else die!" 

Cassie ran. Behind her, Deathscythe Hell exploded. The force of the blast sent Cassie tumbling to the ground. Darkness enveloped her like a fist. 

Trowa watched as the second Megazord left, apparently following the first one. When it had receded into the distance, he crept into the base. It was more of a huge hangar than a base, he noted distantly. It was echoingly empty. A silver device shaped somewhat like communications gear sat on a console. Trowa glanced at it briefly, and looked away. It wouldn't be long before the others returned. He would get whatever information he could, and then, when the Power Rangers entered their base again, he would kill them. Slowly. Not as Trowa Barton, Gundam Pilot, but as Nanashi, mercenary soldier. He couldn't get into the computer system, though. It simply would not respond to his commands. As he sat staring at the screen, another thought came to mind. 

_Heero, in pain, having only recently awoken from a month long coma. "I was taught that the only way to live a good life was is to act on your emotions."_ The memory dissolved. 

"Act on my emotions." The destruction of the base would hurt the Rangers. Heero, Duo, and Wufei would be able to finish them off easily. Trowa smiled painfully. 

Gundam Heavyarms was in position in a matter of moments. After only a brief moment of hesitation, Trowa hit the all-important switch. "Thank you, Heavyarms." The Gundam had been his constant companion throughout the war. It began to glow brightly. Now it would follow him into death. "Wait for me, Quatre." He stared into the incandescent light. 

When Andros and the others reached Cassie, the wreckage behind her was still smoldering. She lay on the ground, face turned away from the flames. 

"Oh, no," Andros breathed. He stopped the Mega Voyager. "Cassie!" 

Ashley was out of the hatch and running as soon as the motion of the Zord ceased. "Cassie? Cassie!" She slowed as she approached the Pink Ranger. Cassie had demorphed, and her eyes were closed. She could have been asleep. Ashley dropped to her knees and touched her friend's shoulder. "Cas-sie?" The morpher slid off Cassie's wrist. "Oh god." Ashley raised a hand to her mouth, dimly surprised by encountering her helmet. She felt Andros and Carlos standing behind her. "She's gone." 

Andros knelt down beside the Yellow Ranger. "We will stop them. We won't let them kill anyone else." 

"I promise," Carlos added savagely. 

The trip back was silent and subdued, with Cassie's body cradled in the hands of the Mega Voyager. _At least,_ Andros thought bleakly, _at least we still have control of all five Mega Vehicles. We can still fight. _One Zord against three Gundams. His train of thought abruptly shattered when he saw the wreckage of the base. It had been utterly demolished. The remains of a Gundam lay intertwined with that of the moon base, in a hideous parody of collaboration. 

"He self-destructed," Andros whispered. The vague hint of empathy he possessed could tell him that much, at least. Neither of the other Rangers heard him. They could only stare numbly. 

"We should go after them," Wufei said reluctantly. "We need all the resources we can get." 

Heero nodded slowly. "We need to find them, first." He exited the mobile suit bay and went looking for a control console. After a moment, Wufei followed. The corridors and hallways inside Barge were silent and empty. Every noise seemed to echo endlessly. Wufei didn't like it. It reminded him too much of parts of his own colony, left to slowly decay. Heero didn't make for much of a reassuring travel companion either. He…stalked through the hallways. Wufei shook his head abruptly. He had to concentrate on the mission. 

"Here." Heero interrupted his train of thought. He tapped at a console. "I've got Heavyarms. And Deathscythe. Duo's still moving." 

"What's this?" Wufei motioned towards something blinking on the corner of the screen. 

"I…don't know." Heero frowned. He tapped at the keyboard some more. "Huh. It's encrypted." 

"Then it must be important," Wufei reasoned logically. 

"I'll try to decrypt it." 

Wufei watched for a moment. System hacking was not his place of expertise. That was Heero's area. And Trowa's. "I'm going to start after –" he began. He was interrupted by the distant sound of an explosion. "What was that?" 

"It was –" Heero broke off abruptly. He looked as if he'd been slapped in the face. Wufei looked at the screen. Deathscythe was no longer registering. 

Heero stood up. "I have to go." 

"You can't help him now." Wufei interposed himself between Heero and the door. 

"He might still…" Heero tried to push past the other pilot. 

"You can't help him," Wufei repeated gently. 

Heero closed his eyes. "Then I'm going to back Trowa up. I'll eliminate them all." 

Wufei nodded, and stepped out of the way. Behind them, on the screen, the icon for Heavyarms blinked out as well. 

Andros used the Mega Voyager to pile the last of the rock on Cassie's grave. TJ's lay next to it, both marked only by a simple pile of stones. And the morpher resting on top. They were out of sight of the former moon base. 

"I have to tell their families," Andros said hopelessly. 

"We'll come with you." Ashley sought out his gloved hand. 

"No." Andros pulled away. "I have to do this alone. You two take the Mega Voyager down to Angel Grove. We'll fight on Earth." 

"But –" Ashley began. 

"Just do it." Andros jumped out of the cockpit. "Galaxy Glider, hang ten!" 

"Come on, Ashley." Carlos put a hand on the Yellow Ranger's shoulder. "Right now, we have to fight." 

"That's what got Cassie and TJ killed!" Ashley sounded on the verge of tears. 

"They knew the risks when they were chosen. So did we. Being a Ranger means fighting evil. If we die, then we die." 

"I…I guess so." 

"Then let's get going, okay?" The Megazord lifted off, following the Red Galaxy Glider down towards Earth. 

Wing Gundam roared out of the mobile suit gate, followed closely by Altron. "Keep your approach low to the ground," Heero said shortly. 

"Yes." Nataku fought with him. 

"These files you found. They were put there by Dorothy Catalonia." 

"What were they?" 

"I don't know." 

"Huh. I'll contact Trowa." Wufei hit another switch. The pilot of Heavyarms didn't respond. The Gundam itself wasn't showing up on sensors. Last known location – Altron topped a rise and Wufei found himself looking on the remains of the Rangers' moon base. Interspersed with the debris was Gundam Heavyarms. The red and orange coloring was unmistakable. 

"Scanning for the last remaining Megazord." The ice in Heero's voice was chillingly clear. 

Heero stared at the wreckage once again. From the dispersal pattern, it was obvious that Trowa had self-detonated. Following his example, set up in Siberia. A statement from the past echoed through Heero's memory. _The only way to live a good life is to act on your emotions_. He'd known that Trowa admired him, admired his strength. What lay before them were the consequences of that admiration. Quatre. Trowa. Duo. The God of Death had been busy today. But Death was dead. 

Heero saw the course of the Megazord on the monitor. Wing transformed within an instant. "Wufei. Catch Wing as I go by. We're following them to Earth." 

The only other Gundam he'd carried like this had been Heavyarms. 

The weight and feel of Altron was different. Heero compensated and followed the Mega Voyager. One way or another, this was going to end. 

Once they entered the atmosphere, Wufei really appreciated the ability to pilot Nataku himself. To be carried like this, helpless… but it was the only way. The Altron was not equipped for atmospheric penetration or atmospheric clearance. Wing, on the other hand, had both those capabilities. 

Something flashed on his sensors. It was the Megazord. Wufei felt their speed increase as Heero rocketed toward the enemy. The Rangers detected their presence as well, and turned to face them. Twin laser beams lanced out of the Megazord's chest and struck Wing. Wufee could hear Heero cursing over the radio. His weight was slowing Wing down, preventing use of its weapons. He raised the dragon arm and sent a blast of fire roaring towards the Mega Voyager. It was a direct hit, but it did little more than knock the Zord off balance. The Megazord fired again, scoring another hit, this time on the Altron. A sudden gust of turbulence nearly tore the two Gundams apart, and Wufei could feel Heero fighting to get his mobile suit under control. And losing. While the Wing alone could safely navigate the vagaries of Earth's upper atmosphere, it was far more difficult to do so while carrying another Gundam. And involved in a firefight, the difficulty multiplied exponentially. If Heero had to carry Wufei down to Earth's surface while fighting the Rangers, he would lose. Wufei took the last choice open to him. 

He let go. 

"Nataku, lend me your strength," he whispered. Firing thrusters, he drove into the side of the Megazord, sending them both plummeting down towards Earth. 

"Wufei, what are you doing?" Through the ice, Heero sounded furious. 

Wufei smiled. "Winning." There was no way the Megazord could break loose. If they didn't burn up in the atmosphere, they'd die when they hit the ground. His comrades, at least, would be avenged. "Nataku, forgive me for not carrying out my mission against Romafeller." He could feel the heat, now. It would be over soon. 

"I can't break us free!" Carlos shouted. "Emergency thrusters aren't responding!" 

"We're approaching the Pacific Ocean." Ashley twisted around in her seat. "If we can't get loose, we're going to crash directly off shore of California!" 

"I'm going to channel all the remaining power into the main hydraulics and the thrusters." 

"Standing by." Ashley readied her hands above the controls. 

"On my command…now!" 

Ashley slammed her hands down. The Megazord shuddered, twisted, but the grip surrounding them did not loosen. 

"Time to impact, twenty-seven seconds." Ashley's voice trembled. "We're going too fast to jump out of the Zord." 

Carlos gripped her shoulders. "I don't…I can't say anything, to make this –" 

"I'm scared, Carlos." Ashley held his hand as tightly as he held hers. 

"Me, too." 

The Zord and the Gundam impacted the surface of the Pacific at nearly terminal velocity, driving through waves and striking the bedrock beneath. One last movement, and the self-detonation of the Altron activated. The explosion fused what remained of both machines to the floor of the ocean. 

Andros saw the resulting explosion from the Galaxy Glider. "Ashley! Carlos! No!" The Glider swerved as Andros sped toward the crash site. There was nothing there. Only a few bubbles rising to the surface, silt disturbed by the movement sinking back down. No survivors. Andros closed his eyes. They were all gone. His entire team killed by an enemy who wanted to destroy the world. The Power Rangers had failed. 

A sound from above caught his attention. It was a Gundam. The last one. Andros turned to face it. 

It was magnificently beautiful, a creature of steel and light. It landed gracefully on the shore line, the fire of its engines dying out slowly. 

"Are you going to kill me now, too?" Andros asked bitterly. He flung his arms wide open. "Here I am. I can't stop you." 

"I would be violating the code of a Gundam Pilot." The voice sounded human, and young. Then again, most of the monsters the Rangers had faced had sounded human. The front of the Gundam opened, and a figure wearing an astrosuit stepped out. It looked human as well, but Andros couldn't see through the faceplate. The figure removed it's helmet. Andros gasped. The face underneath was the face of a fifteen-year-old boy. Except for the eyes. They were cold and unforgiving as the Gundam pilot leveled an emotionless glare at the Red Ranger. "If you are offering a challenge, then I accept," the pilot continued. 

Andros' eyes narrowed behind his own helmet. This was the monster responsible for killing his teammates. For the safety of the world, it had to be stopped. Even if it looked like a child younger than he was. He smiled grimly, his expression hidden. "Then let's go." 

The Gundam pilot vaulted out of his mobile suit's cockpit, landing neatly in the sand. "There are no rules," he said flatly. 

Andros hesitates less than a second. "Agreed." 

There was no warning in the Gundam pilot's face. He pulled a gun out of nowhere – Andros had only a split second to wonder where it had come from, given that Spandex usually hid almost nothing – and aimed it straight at Andros' heart. The Red Ranger dodged; his suit protected him from quite a lot, but somehow he didn't think it would protect him from a bullet. The Galaxy Glider spun down just as the Gundam pilot fired; the bullet grazed Andros' shoulder. A brief flare of pain told him he'd been right. His suit wouldn't stop bullets. Diving off the Glider in a controlled tumble, he landed in the sand. 

Heero Yuy watched the movements of the Red Ranger, observing, cataloguing, assessing his opponent's fighting style. If he wanted a duel, Heero was going to give him one. The fact that the rangers were the ones who had abducted them, and presumably were the only ones who know how to get him back, was irrelevant. The files and the technology could be extrapolated from the ruin Trowa had made of the moon base. A sudden thought stopped Heero cold. They only had Dorothy's word that the Rangers had been responsible for their situation. During their first battle, though, the Megazord had fired first… at them? No. With crystal clarity, Heero remembered the insignificant vessel, no doubt piloted by Dorothy. She had been watching the fight, trying to remain hidden. And the Rangers had fired on her. At the time, it had seemed that the Gundams were the target of what appeared to be a poorly aimed preemptive strike. And Heero had slipped into the state of mind he experienced only on the Zero system. Quatre, too, he remembered, had successfully fought with the Zero system. It must have awakened in him as well, brought on by the stress of facing enemies of unknown capabilities in unfamiliar terrain. _We internalized the System_. All of this was adding up to mean one thing. 

Andros stood, holding his Astro Blaster, finger tightening around the trigger. The Gundam pilot was watching him, analyzing every motion while giving nothing away himself. Andros began to circle him cautiously, searching for some sign of weakness. The pilot tracked his movements – then froze, eyes turned inward. Confused, Andros stopped as well. That was no way to begin a fight. He raised his Astro Blaster, preparing to fire. 

"Stop." 

That one word was so surprising that Andros did stop. Briefly. The pilot looked at him out of his cold blue eyes, his expression still guarded. 

"We aren't enemies." 

Right. Andros was well acquainted with treachery. Thanks to Darkonda, among others. He would not be tricked by this too-human monster. 

"I had no intention of harming you. None of us did." Despite his words, the pilot still held his gun, pointed downwards. 

"What happened, then?" Andros burst out, no longer able to keep silent. "Cassie, TJ, Carlos… and Ashley…" His voice almost broke. "They're all dead because of you!" he finished angrily. 

Was that a flicker of pain in the Gundam pilot's eyes? No. That was impossible. "I am aware of that. But I am not your enemy." 

Andros shook his head. "You want to conquer the earth. Enslave it. Dorothy said as much." 

"We want to free it. Bring peace. That, and take revenge against OZ." 

"Dark Specter promised peace!" Andros spat back. "Right before he destroyed my world!" 

"My name is Heero Yuy." Desperation hedged the pilots words, colored his voice. "We shouldn't have been fighting at all!" His hands moved upwards, the gun still grasped in his fingers. 

"No!" Andros screamed. And fired. 

Heero dodged, but the energy blast scored a line across his ribs. The next time he moved, it was with a loss of some of his fluid grace. "I don't want to hurt you!" 

Andros charged. 

Heero cursed mentally. It was more important then ever that he return to his Earth, to stop Romafeller. He was the only one left, and there was a mission to complete. The burn along his ribs stung like fire, hampering his movement. He fired his own weapon at Andros, meant to distract and not kill. His shot hit the Red Ranger's blaster, rendering it useless. Andros dropped the blaster and continued his rush towards Heero. "Dammit." Heero flung his gun out of the way and prepared to beat the Red Ranger into submission if he had to. Without killing him. 

When it came down to a purely physical fight, Heero Yuy had been trained by the best. His endurance, agility, and speed were superhuman. It was this type of strength that allowed him to pilot a Gundam. But even without his mobile suit, without weapons, wounded and exhausted, Heero Yuy was good. 

Andros was better. 

A short round of hand-to-hand confirmed the Red Ranger's ability, and the stress level reached maximum. Heero's instincts clicked over to the Zero System, and his entire mission parameter narrowed to one objective: survival. His gun was somewhere behind him. He would use it. He rolled backwards, seeking and finding the familiar grip. 

He aimed. "Mission…" pulled the trigger "…accomplished." The bullet buried itself in Andros' chest, blood the same color as his armor leaking out. The Red Ranger looked down, stunned. 

"Spiral Saber!" There was a surprising amount of strength in his voice as he staggered toward Heero. Something flashed in his hand – where had it come from? – and Heero fired again. 

Andros screamed, a primordial sound of pain and rage and grief, and brought his weapon down. 

There was no pain. Heero found himself looking at the stars pulsating brightly in the night sky as his blood mingled with Andros' and pooled in the sand. The Red Ranger's armor had vanished, and he looked almost peaceful. Not long now. Heero could feel his heart slowing. In the back of his mind, he could hear Zechs Marquise. 

"Wars are heartless." 

Wufei. "I have no right to fight." 

Quatre. "We shouldn't be fighting at all!" 

Trowa. "This battle is meaningless." 

And Duo. His smile, his outrageous braid, his irrepressible cheerfulness. They were all gone, now. Zechs was right. War was heartless. 

Heero Yuy closed his eyes and slept. 


End file.
